Google Android store reaches 25 billion downloads, 675,000 apps

Google announced on Wednesday that its Google Play store for Android has seen 25 billion downloads to date, and a total of 675,000 applications are now available.

The announcement, made on the company's official Android blog, comes a few weeks after Apple provided its own update on the success of the iOS App Store. At the iPhone 5 media event, Apple revealed that the App Store had more than 700,000 applications, with 250,000 of those written specifically for the iPad.

Apple also announced that 90 percent of the applications on the App Store are downloaded every month, and that the average user has more than 100 applications installed on their device. Google's post did not offer comparable statistics.

As for the total number of application downloads, Apple's App Store reached the 25 billion mark in early March, or nearly 7 months before Google gave its own update on Wednesday. Apple's App Store launched three months before Google Play, then known as the Android Market, in 2008.

To celebrate the milestone of 25 billion downloads, Google is offering discounts on content available on Google Play. Creations from developers including Electronic Arts, GameLoft, Rovio and more will be on sale for 25 cents, while the company will also be highlighting special prices on movies, books, albums and magazines.

While it's a relatively close battle between Apple and Google in terms of applications available and user downloads, estimates have shown that Apple's App Store dominates in terms of paid applications. One study released last year found that Apple's iOS platform took in about 90 percent of all dollars spent on applications for mobile devices.

We always see these grand pronouncements coming from a company whose platform is propagated by handset makers that never put out actual, audited data. Not to mention that Google's revenue from mobile is still a rounding error. So we do have to wonder what all this amounts to -- other than some vague, undefined, long term potential -- for the company.

Think that about covers it, avoiding the need to turn the article into another click-bait thread. You're welcome...

It's only fair that you post this but let's be honest, when you write a Hello World app and post it to Play should that app hold the same weight as an apps that has gone through a curation process. I bet you won't find a single Hello World app that has ever been on the App Store and yet Google store has has tends of thousand at one time.

Then there is the non-linear fragmentation which does force legitimate developers to make multiple versions for no other reason that supporting multiple devices. The only time you see this on the App Store is from Lite and paid apps, of which I think Apple should have a trial period set up.

Bottom line: We have a company that claims more activation's in a day than the universe has existed in seconds, combined with an app store that requires no process to get posted it's a head scratcher that Play isn't hundreds of thousands of apps ahead of the App Store. The only reasonable answer is that people don't use Android phones as app phones as much as Google likes to pretend.

Think that about covers it, avoiding the need to turn the article into another click-bait thread. You're welcome...

I agree with all of these points, i have a few android tablets, the play store is beyond fail from my perspective. if you had a nexus 7 & you wanted to do more then play some basic games or watch movies, i don't know what it would actually be good for :S

It's only fair that you post this but let's be honest, when you write a Hello World app and post it to Play should that app hold the same weight as an apps that has gone through a curation process. I bet you won't find a single Hello World app that has ever been on the App Store and yet Google store has has tends of thousand at one time.
Then there is the non-linear fragmentation which does force legitimate developers to make multiple versions for no other reason that supporting multiple devices. The only time you see this on the App Store is from Lite and paid apps, of which I think Apple should have a trial period set up.

Not only lite (Free) and paid, but often iphone (normal)/ ipad (hd) versions as well.

One thing Microsoft did right in their store, every app has a trial which is the same entry as the full version, just with 2 buttons, try or buy. Hope Apple goes that route as well. But hey, I'm already glad I don't get the login anymore for updates of my apps ;)